Drones continue to become more and more relevant tools across a variety of industries. An example of such an industry is mining. The mining industry involves the extraction of precious minerals, which are transformed into a mineralized form for an economic benefit. The biggest advantage of using drones in mining is that drones can quickly investigate and inspect an area much faster and far more cheaply than any other mining tools available nowadays for mining. The Mining Industry uses Drones for activities like monitoring, inspection, regular surveying, mapping, stockpile management, haulage road optimization, tailings dam management, optimize mine site development, etc. Apart from that Drones are also being used inside the mines, to conduct geotechnical studies, studying rock size and distribution analysis, for performing gas detection, carrying out underground rescue missions for search and recovery.
Benefits of Using Drones in Mining Industry
Fast Mining Exploration
Drone data can yield high-resolution orthophotos and DSM maps that support mining exploration projects, even in areas difficult to navigate on foot. Capturing data with a drone is up to 30 times faster than with traditional land-based methods and also does not require the presence of a surveyor on site. As compared to ground survey equipment, it would take weeks for a team of land surveyors to collect the same amount of data that a drone can collect in a few hours.
Frequent Management
Given the speed at which surveys can now be conducted using drones, frequent data collection is proving itself to be cost-effective. Specifically, it allows better forecasting of the mineral stock availability. One can check the site as often as he likes, without waiting for a semi-annual aerial survey audit. The ability to run regular data collections, leads to the improvement of inventory and operational management.
High Accuracy
Drone images are used to create highly-accurate orthomosaic maps of mining sites and quarries. They can capture data at an accuracy that is at par or better than any ground-based methods, by providing thousands of data points for one stockpile. All surface unevenness and undulation is identified. The surveys make it possible to reduce the deviation in stockpile volume calculations, to generate improved base files for stockpiling, and to produce more accurate financial statements and regulatory checks. This also improves the consistency of inventory reports in the company’s balance sheet.
Mine Monitoring and Operation Planning
With an accurate site model produced from drone aerial images, designing and managing site operations have become much easier. This is because they can more accurately assess the volume of material that must be extracted or moved according to plans or legal standards.
Assessment Before & After Drilling and Blasting
Whenever a mining company does any drilling or blasting, all preparations must be done impeccably. Not only are these activities inherently hazardous, but they are also very expensive. By using drones for mining, cost-effective and accessible 3D reconstructions and surface models can be produced, for areas to be blasted or drilled. These models help accurately analyse the area to be drilled and calculate the volume to be extracted post blasting. This also helps manage resources used for blasting. A comparison against surveys taken before and after the blasting will allow volumes to be calculated more accurately thereby improving the planning for future blasts, cutting the cost of explosives, time on site and drilling.
Hazard Identification and Mitigation
Drones are sent to do the work that humans do unaided. With the aid of drones, people no longer need to expose themselves to the hazards of treacherous terrain. With the high-resolution images from drones, it becomes easier to inspect otherwise difficult-to-access or high-traffic areas of the site, eliminating the risks that surveyors face working physically on the site. Drones help spot hazards, which are invisible from the ground and hence cannot be easily spotted by humans.
Low-Cost Mining Surveys
The use of drones costs only a fraction of the price of traditional manned aviation surveys. Also, in the long run, the costs of surveying and monitoring using drones are substantially reduced.
Haul Road
Aerial images of the site, enables regular visual assessment of the state of haul roads providing its length, slope and turning angles. This helps the optimisation of roads for haul fleet by accounting for the specifications that cut fuel costs, while ensuring that the mine is within planning and regulatory requirements. In general, drone data helps ensure that roads are built to design and that they meet current legal standards.
Water and Sediment Flow
Drones help prevent operations disruption due to unwanted or uncontrolled water or sediment flow. Flow and tailings pond operations can be modelled from the digital elevation maps produced by drone images. The possibility and convenience of flying drones frequently, helps create a visual record of the site and monitor progress on a weekly basis and store these for future operations or regulatory audits.
Tailing Dams
Aerial images by drones help in regular monitoring of mine features such as slopes on tailings dams. They also help ensure that the regular maintenance of dams are completed safely in time, preventing disasters. Importantly, Drone data gives regulators a record of the state of the tailing dam over time.
Conclusion
Use of Drones in mining has improved the overall efficiency of large mine site and quarry management by providing accurate and comprehensive data detailing site conditions in a very short time. Drones are set to revolutionize the mining industry, which has faced stagnant growth and increasing regulatory scrutiny the last decade.